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Willingness to Pay and QALYs: What Can We Learn about Valuing Foodborne Risk?

Andersson, Henrik ; Hammitt, James K. and Sundström, Kristian LU (2015) In Journal of Agricultural Economics 66(3). p.727-752
Abstract
This paper examines the value of reducing foodborne risk. Previous research on the valuation of health risk has been dominated by the study of mortality risk. However, in most cases foodborne illnesses are non-fatal, so we focus on individuals' preferences for reducing morbidity risk, while also including a realistic, if remote, chance of death. We use a contingent valuation method on a Swedish sample and we estimate a value of a statistical illness consistent with previous findings in the literature. We also examine how willingness to pay (WTP) varies with the expected change in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and estimate the WTP per QALY. We find that WTP increases with, though less than proportionally to, a change in QALYs.... (More)
This paper examines the value of reducing foodborne risk. Previous research on the valuation of health risk has been dominated by the study of mortality risk. However, in most cases foodborne illnesses are non-fatal, so we focus on individuals' preferences for reducing morbidity risk, while also including a realistic, if remote, chance of death. We use a contingent valuation method on a Swedish sample and we estimate a value of a statistical illness consistent with previous findings in the literature. We also examine how willingness to pay (WTP) varies with the expected change in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and estimate the WTP per QALY. We find that WTP increases with, though less than proportionally to, a change in QALYs. However, our results also suggest that respondents may have found it difficult to evaluate compound risks of both morbidity and mortality simultaneously. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
food risks, QALY, valuation, willingness to pay
in
Journal of Agricultural Economics
volume
66
issue
3
pages
727 - 752
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000360017000008
  • scopus:84939464720
ISSN
1477-9552
DOI
10.1111/1477-9552.12109
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e3b25a27-c134-4cea-88fc-74025751c561 (old id 7972179)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:09:37
date last changed
2023-12-22 20:00:15
@article{e3b25a27-c134-4cea-88fc-74025751c561,
  abstract     = {{This paper examines the value of reducing foodborne risk. Previous research on the valuation of health risk has been dominated by the study of mortality risk. However, in most cases foodborne illnesses are non-fatal, so we focus on individuals' preferences for reducing morbidity risk, while also including a realistic, if remote, chance of death. We use a contingent valuation method on a Swedish sample and we estimate a value of a statistical illness consistent with previous findings in the literature. We also examine how willingness to pay (WTP) varies with the expected change in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and estimate the WTP per QALY. We find that WTP increases with, though less than proportionally to, a change in QALYs. However, our results also suggest that respondents may have found it difficult to evaluate compound risks of both morbidity and mortality simultaneously.}},
  author       = {{Andersson, Henrik and Hammitt, James K. and Sundström, Kristian}},
  issn         = {{1477-9552}},
  keywords     = {{food risks; QALY; valuation; willingness to pay}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{727--752}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Journal of Agricultural Economics}},
  title        = {{Willingness to Pay and QALYs: What Can We Learn about Valuing Foodborne Risk?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12109}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1477-9552.12109}},
  volume       = {{66}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}